'Because he never read it': Rahul's retort to Modi on Constitution

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks that the Constitution of India is 'blank' because he has never read it.

Modi would have pursued different policies had he read the country's foundational document, he said at election rallies at Nandurbar and Nanded ahead of the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections.

Gandhi's retort came after Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that the Congress leader was showing a copy of the Constitution with blank pages inside at his campaign rallies.

 In Nanded, the Congress leader was also campaigning ahead of the Lok Sabha byelection, necessitated by the death of sitting Congress MP Vasant Chavan.

The Congress has fielded his son Ravindra Chavan while the BJP has fielded Santuk Hambarde.

"The prime minister says I show a blank Constitution," Gandhi said in tribal-dominated Nandurbar in north Maharashtra, adding, "The Constitution is blank for him, because he has never read it in his life. He has no idea what is written in it."

In Nanded in central region, Gandhi said the Constitution does not teach discrimination.

"If Modi had read the Constitution, he would not have behaved the way he does. Modi waives loans of Rs 16 lakh crore of 25 rich people but not those of the poor and farmers," he added.

Referring to strife-torn Manipur, he said for the first time in the country's history, a prime minister has not visited a state which has been burning for more than a year.

As to BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis questioning the red cover of the Constitution showed by Gandhi at his rallies and connecting it to 'urban Naxals', Gandhi said, "It does not matter what colour is the Constitution, whether red or blue, what matters is what is written inside and we are committed to defend and protect it even at the cost of our life."

While the Constitution refers to tribals as Adivasis, which means original owners of land, forests and other resources, the BJP deliberately describes them as 'Vanvasis' or forest-dwellers, Gandhi said, adding that the saffron party does not want tribal children to study and become doctors or engineers, but wants to confine them to forests.

Against the eight per cent tribal population in the country, their participation in the government and other institutions was almost negligible, the Congress leader claimed, adding that of the 90 top bureaucrats running the central government, just one officer belongs to the Adivasi community and even he was sidelined.

Caste census was the only solution to end this discrimination, he added.

The Congress leader also reiterated the Opposition's allegation that development projects with huge employment potential meant for Maharashtra were being shifted to other states like Gujarat.

Maharashtra lost about five lakh jobs when projects like Vedanta Foxconn, Tata Airbus, iPhone manufacturing plants and a bulk drug park went to other states, Gandhi alleged, adding that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of the Congress and allies would ensure that Maharashtra projects remain in Maharashtra and Gujarat projects remain in Gujarat.

The way Modi 'waived the loans of Rs 16 lakh crore of a few billionaires', the MVA government will provide debt relief of up to Rs three lakh to farmers, he said, assuring purchase of paddy, soybean and cotton at the minimum support price.